apinknightmare

My problem isn't because he's her boss per se - I was shipping her and Oliver together when she was his EA so I don't want to make myself into a hypocrite. I was okay with it then because I knew they already had a personal relationship outside of the office and that a gift of that nature (or even a loan) would've been outside of the realm of the boss/employee relationship even if she was wearing it to a work function (if that makes any sense). All of Ray's interactions with Felicity have been in the workplace and/or somewhat related to work, and adding a "romantic" element to them just makes it seem like he's taking advantage of his position as her employer or manipulating her in a way that makes me uncomfortable. If they had an established relationship (be it friendly or not) outside of the office, I think it wouldn't come off as questionable to me.

Yeah, if I'm going to have to be subjected to drama while I watch Oliver get himself to a place where he's ready to be with her, once he's ready to be with her I want that to be it. I can only take so much.

Yeah, I agree with this. I think a normal, functional adult relationship wasn't possible yet, because Oliver still has too much work to do on himself. And there was already so much out there on the table that would've been legit reasons for them to not pursue it without *literally* blowing everything up. Traversing those waters would've been something *I* would've liked to seen (like Felicity pushing him away because she knew he wasn't ready, or any other host of non-dramatic reasons), but sadly TPTB aren't willing to try and work that kind of thing into this show. I've been trying to temper my expectations based on what kind of CW drama I know I'm in for; maybe that's why I'm not deflated about it. Yet.

Well, Oliver doesn't know that Ra's didn't care that much about it. If Ra's sees an opportunity as far as Oliver is concerned (be it because he thinks his skill set is useful to the LoA or he has other nefarious plans), why wouldn't he pretend to be upset over Sara's death as leverage to get Oliver to do what he wanted? Especially if Thea or someone Oliver loves is involved. And it would tie in with Ra's (per the EPs) thinking that Oliver's personal connections are holding him back, because while he would no doubt threaten one of Oliver's loved ones to get Oliver to do what he wanted, he would probably also think Oliver was weak since he could be manipulated in that way.

I'm probably in the minority, but I actually don't think it's a shitfest (yet). Because I still don't think there's a will they/won't they thing going on - there's no doubt in my mind that they will. I don't even think the show is trying to cast any doubt on that. Oliver's always taken Felicity for granted, and he's not ready for the long-term kind of thing that would do justice to their relationship. He really doesn't have any fight in him for himself and his happiness, and he's got to learn to stop being an observer in his own life. Felicity hit the nail on the head when she told him that he can't just accept things, but he still hasn't gotten to the point where he fights. When he sees something slipping away, he's got to learn to fight for it, to want it badly enough to not let it fall through his fingers, and for once I'm just glad that this isn't a life-or-death situation for him. I expected Oliver to see Ray and Felicity kiss, but it actually gives me hope that he didn't make himself known and there wasn't any drama over it. He went back to the foundry, had his moment of anger at himself, and then did something constructive. Maybe it's because my expectations are just so low, but it was progression, not regression, and I'm okay with that. The best thing to do IMO is to ignore the way EPs talk about this relationship, because they just use traditional buzzwords and most of it doesn't translate on screen. I have seen the slow burn, but despite the ups and downs of this season I haven't really seen any one step forward, two steps back stuff. So far every "setback" has led to growth of some sort, and that's all I expect from this show.

I get the feeling that whenever Oliver gets the company back, he's going to push for Felicity to be CEO. I think that's a very small part of the reason why she's VP (of whatever) at QC/Palmer Technologies. I'd like it to be something they build together (and maybe they will), but I thought the EPs had mentioned that they didn't really have any desire to write the QC storyline for him anymore. Maybe that will change once he takes charge of his personal life though, who knows. He does need something outside of Arrow though, but the traditional 9-5 just doesn't seem to suit him.

Yeah, SA said there were a couple of eps where he was only in flashbacks.

I'm really hoping that instead of the mid-season crapfest we got last year, the crapfest is at the beginning and we'll be firing on all cylinders and getting back to some kind of normalcy soon. I HOPE.

I think if he was in a coma we'd see him in the present day. I also think that if he was going off with Ra's we'd get some present-day Oliver. The only reason I can figure for him being absent from present-day is because he's either missing or allegedly dead.

Well, the show comes back sooner, but Oliver's gone for the first two (maybe three eps). So...two-ish months, not three, haha.

Same. It's going to be terrible, and then we'll have to wait two months to get any kind of resolution.

Haha. I've watched this scene more times than I'm comfortable admitting (I think the fistpounding table swipe is hot), and I don't think he goes for the plant - he just kind of walks toward it. He would never, ever. Not ever.

Well, yeah, if he thinks he'll come back. I was speculating as if he thinks he won't.

I wonder if he voluntarily goes, and after they confess that they love each other he encourages her to be with Ray (or someone else), since he isn't going to be around to be there for her and he wants her to be happy. That "frees" Felicity to get closer to Ray while Oliver's gone (maybe not full-on dating, but I can see him being a comfort to her), and keeps the third leg of the triangle open for when Oliver returns. That would create a bigger conflict for Felicity. It's tropey as hell - seems like something these writers would do.

I get the feeling that they don't really care about being successful as far as selling the Ray and Felicity relationship in-show goes. People seemed to be worried that the point of Ray would be to steer the ship over to the Raylicity side so the EPs could push Oliver and Laurel back together, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all (not that I thought it would be).

Ray must do something stupid in 3x08 I guess? If she does tell them, I bet they both go apeshit and get super angry at her. I bet that would further fuel her desire to suit up, since she deals with stuff by lashing out.

Yeah, I want that too. SA seems to have his finger on the pulse of the fans, so if he's saying it's the "greatest Olicity scene," then it has to be something positive for their relationship. It would make sense for them to confess to each other if there's a life or death situation happening, which it seems like there might be. The only thing that puzzles me is what happens after, because if Felicity thinks he's dead then I will find it off-putting if she gets closer to Ray romantically during Oliver's absence, and if they've both laid it out on the line then what's to stop them from getting back together relatively soon once he comes back? If they do that then Ray really wasn't much of a roadblock at all. That leads me to think that Oliver must voluntarily leave and they confess to each other anyway, but then Felicity has issues when he gets back because she would understandably be wary of him backing off or taking off again.

Was him being kidnapped ever a serious theory? I thought most people were vacillating between him willingly giving himself up or him getting left behind after the fight because everyone thought he was dead.

I wonder if making her VP is setting the stage for Oliver making her CEO when he inevitably gets the company back?

Apparition! Sara is going to give Laurel her blessing to Laurel to be Black Canary (and hopefully ask her TO TELL HER PARENTS SHE'S DEAD), and Apparition! Sara is going to tell Sin to rebuild the clocktower and eat all the Big Belly she wants.

A name change probably would've required a shareholder vote though - he would've had to vote on it. Yeah, that dress was expensive, but it was not couture. They could've at least taken the tag off, haha.

Oliver's still a shareholder. There's no way he didn't know about the name change before that press conference.

Try the third or fourth time, haha. Luckily I haven't seen any of that if it's out there. Not surprised that it would be, though.

I normally hate this, but I hope he has a little ponytail like Maseo. I can't stand Oliver's greasy hair being in his face all the time.

Yeah, I don't think Felicity was communicating anything to the audience. She was looking at Ray and talking about Oliver, so it seemed way more intimate than it should've been because she is just a big 'ol projecting projector.